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August 29, 2012

because i feel like this one, taken at the Buckeye Kickoff, pretty much sums up the difference in anth's and benny's dispositions.
(just in case you missed the subtle nuances between the two in the last 2 years of posts. . . )

August 26, 2012

last night, bern and i took the boys to the first ever Buckeye Kickoff.the event started with the premiere of the "Ohio Dog," a hot dog covered in mashed potatoes, scallions, cheese, corn, bacon, and i'm sure a few other things i'm forgetting.i, of course, loved it.the boys, of course, requested "regular hot dogs."the event was designed primarily for first years, but all were welcome, to kick off the football season and teach the old, and new, traditional cheers for the games.

it was benny's first time in the Ohio Stadium.

precious.

the boys took a minute to pose with my supervisor, Barb. she was busy herding the RA staff for the evening.

ben was, per usual, all over the place. he was running up the bleachers, crawling under the bleachers, dancing, etc.until. . . The Best Damn Band In The Land came out on the field. he literally stood there in awe.

then they started to march across the field to do Script Ohio. which he had never seen in person. suffice it to say, the kid was excited. (bern has clearly trained him well.)

anth enjoyed it, too.

then the band left the field and benny was back to his usual antics. this time, he was exploring the variety of ways to make use of the "squishy seats."

a rare shot of me and my Savvy boys.(i tend to hide out behind the camera whenever possible. . .)

ben, adding his usual flair to a photo opps. heaven forbid we have a cute picture of the two of us. perhaps not the one i will be using for this year's holiday card.

then, it was time for the RAs to head out to the field for a fun new tradition. . .

the RAs created a spirit tunnel for all of the students in attendance to make their way through on the way into the photo of the Ohio State first year class. ﻿

getting into position.

my little buckeyes.

we ran into some of our new Higher Education and Student Affairs grads, Megan, Renata, Dan & Timmy who made a modified O-H-I-O with the boys.

i am not entirely certain that we are spelling O-H-I-O, so much as O, Hii. . . we are simply trying to be friendly.

again. ben and his flair.

attempt #2.

anth REALLY wanted me to get a shot of him on the field. this was his pose of choice. precious.

a little came of catch in the 'Shoe.

more family photo opps.

and more pics of a few of our wonderful Assistant Hall Directors. who were just as excited as the first years, if not more so, to be down on the field.

by this point, ben was pretty much tuckered out.

until he spotted President Gee. . .

. . . and made a mad dash across the field, yelling "President Gee!," to give him a hug. now, recently, ben has taken to hugging people at calf level. anyone who has received a hug at this level knows that it tends to mess with your center of gravity. thus, you will not be surprised to know that the thought in my mind was not, "hooray!"instead, i was thinking, "dear benjamin, pretty please do not tackle our university president here on the football field. thanks. love, mom" all in about .432 seconds.

happily, benny did not, in fact, knock over any university officials. (he also met the Director of the OSU Marching Band , Dr. Jon Waters.)he did explain to Dr. Gee that his name was Ben and he was 4. fair enough.

it was anth that surprised me. in a rare moment for anth, he completely lost his usual composure. and he did a full on happy dance, singing, "i met President Gee, i met President Gee!," while doing fist-pumps into the air and hopping back and forth. (he has since Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa Welch in California and told them his story, and explained to his Grandpa Savarese that it has been his "dream to meet President Gee since pre-school, when his class sang him Happy Birthday via video.)seeing as it's been half-a-lifetime's dream for him, he was pretty excited to see it come true. as a result, President Gee was kind enough to pose for this photo. . .

August 24, 2012

today was anth's last day of summer. really, he spent the summer at what he calls "sports camp" on campus. on Wednesday, bern and i took the day off and took anth to Easton. we had breakfast at Panera, saw Ice Age: Continental Drift, had lunch at Piada (obsessed), and wandered around anth's favorite place, The Lego Store. today, anth and i spent a special day of fun together before 2nd grade starts on Monday. (ack.)

because ben was more than slightly jealous of anth's "special day," we let him hang out with us for a while this morning. at drop-off, anth went out and checked out the playground equipment on his old pre-school stomping grounds. it appears that it is still just as fun as it was 3 years ago. we then headed over to mom's work for a little bit, and dined at Anth's choice of lunch establishment, Cane's.

our post-Cane's fun was the highlight of the day. anth has been asking to paint pottery all summer. Clay Cafe was our place of choice. after a long debate between the cheetah and the gecko, anth decided there would be "more of a challenge" in a piece that required more than one color.

the kid was focused.

i chose to go a little more practical, and opted for the business card holder.

(because i have swarms of people who make it to my office and demand a business card. . .)

also - these will dry to be teal and red.

not so much the baby shower pink and blue they appear to be right now.

i think.

or at least i hope. . .

we then made a brief jaunt into Target for anth to explore his favorite new craft, Orbeez.

according to the box, they are "super absorbent polymers."

you throw them in water and they grow.

basically, they are the same material once used to help save crops during droughts.

and the junk inside diapers.

(which i have previously tested the "throw in water and grow" concept on by washing a diaper and throwing it in the dryer. any other bleary-eyed mom who has done this - and i know they exist- will know how fun this one is to clean OUT of the machine.)

anyway, we now give these substances to children to grow and collect.

after being introduced to them by his friends Ziya and Myka last week, anth now wants to grow some of his own.

he insisted we get some to surprise ben as well.

then, we were off to school...

it was time to find out what class he is going to be in next year!because i have a work task on his first day on Monday, i got to walk around with my camera and horrify anthony today instead. (this means that dad will do the same on Monday. twice the fun for anth.)anth got to walk around his new class, check out his desk, and meet his new teacher. she seems like a gem. in the real genuine, non-sarcastic, form of the word.

this is my (almost official) second grader. where on earth is the time going? this same kid, who i swear was just learning how to walk, is now reading books and commenting on our presidential candidates. if i don't think about it too much, it breaks my heart a little less to see him getting so big so fast.

August 21, 2012

i am not the most patient person i know. and i work a job in which i meet a lot of people. . . i am exceptionally impatient when it comes to food. and the aquiring of it. especially when "snacky." (note: i tend to feel "snacky" within 30 minutes of any given meal.) anyway. bernie would tell you that my moments of snacky-inspired-impatience are often evident in the remnants of our food packaging in the house. he would likely point you in the direction of several mangled plastic bags inside the cereal boxes in our pantry. i tell him i can't help it. (yes, i fully understand that this is a ridiculous statement.) except, for this. . . i took this photo while my parents were in town in April. after my mom got the boys a snack. may i present Exhibit A:

August 16, 2012

currently, i am working on a script about Columbus that our RA staff will use as they serve as "tour guides" for an upcoming major campus event. those who know me well will find this entertaining because i am a giant homebody and not probably the best person to highlight all of the hidden gems of Columbus. fortunately, i have been provided quality info from other people who explore the world on foot rather than via book.
but, it seems like a good time to take a 10 minute break to write something not about the Arena District or the Columbus Zoo.

it's been a wild few weeks.between watching the Olympics at what literally felt like all hours of the day, and making our way through 5 weeks of training a variety of levels of staff in our department, and spending this week celebrating our staff here at Ohio State, my brain is a little bit mushy. and...a shiny new set of incoming students arrives for Move-In day this sunday!yay!the cycle of campus life continues. :)

i truly love this time of year.in terms of working on a college campus, it feels like spring for all of the renewal and growth and new energy it brings. yet, this time of year also tends to leave me feeling like i have 2.3 brain cells. total. and that is not necessarily to say that i feel that they are functioning.

maybe you feel this way, too. maybe not. either way, here is video. it's benny. teaching us one of his go-to relaxation methods he learned at school.

want to know more? benny has also shared a demo on how to do "the pretzel" that i will share with you soon!here's to another great move-in this weekend!

August 2, 2012

at least according to ben. who ran around the living room yelling "i get a medal!" . . . shortly after anthony screamed "we just got a medal!" while i was making popcorn in the kitchen.

one of ben's classroom TAs shared this picture with me today. it looks a lot like ben finding out that the US team didn't actually earn him a medal. just picture my living room in the background.

note: this TA is a gem and does not normally stand around taking pictures of ben crying. i promise. his teachers set up long jump markers on the floor today and were letting the kids jump and mark their distance with masking tape. according to ben, this is a picture of "me being fwustwated because i jumped a 2 and i usually jump a 3."perhaps i got him a little too excited about the olympics. . .

August 1, 2012

i am so tired that i can no longer see straight. i am choosing to blame this (partially) on you. you see, i have already shared with my 13 blog readers that i am a hot freaking mess. it's true. just recently i have added a few more special contributions to my collection of notably impressive life moments.these have included:

Moment 1:in which i grab a poorly closed package of twizzlers off our kitchen counter. then listen to bernie say, "those are way too hard to eat anymore. gross. throw those out." then immediately choose to pop one in my mouth. then promptly choke on said Twizzler.

Moment 2: in which i have so many travel coffee mugs on my desk at work, as a result of never remembering to take them home at the end of the day, that i drink from a particularly old cup. with particularly old creamer. and have to run down a particularly long hallway to rinse out my mouth.

Moment 3: here we visit the moment when krystyne, while cleaning the tub in the master bathroom, somehow manages to turn on the shower. so that it douses her with water. in the face.

Moment 4: this was the time when i acknowledged that it is much faster for me to simply click the "forgot your password?" button and follow the prompts than to actually try to remember my password. to anything. ever.on earth.

Moment 5: this gem was from this afternoon. when, after laughing at the ridiculousness of a news segment last night that reported on the uptick in emergency room admits due to people walking while texting, i chose to walk while texting. and found myself trying to key into a van in the parking lot. note: i drive a Golf.

if i could use an spoiler-free Olympics analogy to summarize my current state of being, i feel a little bit like this:

. . . without the mat.

but, NBC, i digress. the fact of the matter is, i am already my own walking version of organized chaos. i don't need your help. but i can't help but think you are playing a joke on me, and anyone else who loves the Olympics.you see, the choice to make this a "digital olympics" has resulted in the need to stay up until midnight, or later depending on your love of post-success-interviews. every day. for two straight weeks. now, usually, i'm a bit of a night owl. but, sheesh. i think we need medals for those folks who were able to stay awake to watch all of this.

also?i wonder if you might explore the nuance of forcing millions of viewers to sit on their couch for 4 straight hours, every night, for two weeks, in order to watch amazing acts of athleticism. i mean, i guess i could stand. . .in my living room.

so, NBC, i am sleepy. and going through a lot of eye cream. and likely making much less sense than usual. which is frightening. but, i love the Olympics far too much to make healthy choices about sleep. as a result, NBC, we are currently not FRIENDS. you have not been there for me. .(sorry. couldn't help it.)fortunately, you have 4 years to figure this out.

love, krystyne

p.s. NBC, this is not your fault at all. but, last night, i pondered the fact that Nadia was my gymnastics hero as a child. she recieved her famous perfect 10 when i was 1. watching the women's team competition last night, i realized that kerri strugg, who earned her gold while i was in college, is as "old" to some of the members of the current team as Nadia seemed to me. holy moly.

to my Olympics-loving peers. . . yay! while i tease about sleepiness, i hope you are enjoying all of the Olympic-fever as much as i am. and the many, tear-inducing, Olympics-inspired commercials. so precious. happy watching!